Meridian Wealth Management LLC Acquires New Shares in Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW) during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 2,758 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $723,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in ITW. Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new stake in Illinois Tool Works during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Illinois Tool Works in the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Illinois Tool Works in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in Illinois Tool Works in the 3rd quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Illinois Tool Works by 261.4% in the 2nd quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 159 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. 79.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on ITW shares. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Illinois Tool Works from $260.00 to $262.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Truist Financial raised their price target on Illinois Tool Works from $281.00 to $312.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Robert W. Baird upped their target price on shares of Illinois Tool Works from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. StockNews.com upgraded Illinois Tool Works from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of Illinois Tool Works to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 31st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $257.30.

Illinois Tool Works Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ITW opened at $273.95 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The business has a 50-day moving average of $262.20 and a 200-day moving average of $249.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $80.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.70, a PEG ratio of 4.18 and a beta of 1.10. Illinois Tool Works Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $232.77 and a fifty-two week high of $277.58.

Illinois Tool Works (NYSE:ITW) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.53 by $0.12. Illinois Tool Works had a return on equity of 97.06% and a net margin of 21.66%. The firm had revenue of $3.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.02 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.55 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Illinois Tool Works Inc. will post 10.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Illinois Tool Works Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. Illinois Tool Works’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.90%.

About Illinois Tool Works

Illinois Tool Works Inc manufactures and sells industrial products and equipment in the United States and internationally. It operates through seven segments: Automotive OEM; Food Equipment; Test & Measurement and Electronics; Welding; Polymers & Fluids; Construction Products; and Specialty Products.